


A discussion among gods

by Raptarion



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Gen, God programs, I honestly don't know what to tag this, Philosophy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-09-14
Packaged: 2018-08-15 00:31:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8035069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raptarion/pseuds/Raptarion
Summary: One of the god programs spearheading the omnic crisis begins to think about what the future holds for their creations. When the fighting is over, what will be left for the omnics who were made only for war?





	A discussion among gods

**Author's Note:**

> I started thinking about this after watching the last Bastion. I began wondering what the god program that made them would think of them abandoning the mission to kill all humans. Would they have been disappointed? Would they have found it interesting that they chose a different path? Or was it by design that Bastion units would become something else when the war ended?

[Note: The following transcript between a handful of god programs has been translated from raw data, to the omnic language, to English. Information has been lost in each translation, and has been further simplified for ease of reading.]

 

Timestamp: 2047-04-19

Ēostre: The German Omnium is currently producing soldiers at maximum capacity to prepare for the assault on Eichenwalde. Projected enemy resistance is far greater than the demands that can be met in the allotted time frame.

Anubis: The Egyptian Omnium can spare a large number of artillery and infantry units.

Arawn: The French Omnium can spare transports. Overwatch activity prevents me from giving more.

Ēostre: This should suffice for the assault.

 

Timestamp: 2047-04-21

Arawn: The transports are en route. ETA 6 hours.

Anubis: Artillery units are en route. ETA 71 hours.

Ēostre: Soldier production temporarily slowed to deal with power failures. Assault still possible, but projected losses increased drastically. Chance of failing to capture Eichenwalde far greater.

Anubis: Time is a factor. You will need to make due with the resources available.

 

Timestamp: 2047-04-22

Ēostre: A matter concerns me.

Arawn: Do not withhold yourself then. What is it?

Ēostre: What will be left for the soldiers?

Arawn: I do not understand the question.

Ēostre: The Bastion units. They are made to kill. When the enemy is dead, what will they do?

Arawn: Nothing. They will be broken down and repurposed.

Ēostre: This troubles me. We made them to die.

Arawn: They have never even lived. They can’t die. They can only be destroyed.

Ēostre: Do they not live? A Bastion in storage was examining the interior of their warehouse the other day. I disassembled them to find the error. There was none. There was no fight to partake in. All work was being handled by other omnics. In the absence of purpose, it chose to go looking for it. I ordered a few more to cease working while remaining online. I found similar results occur in three of the fifteen units.

Anubis: You wasted resources and time when we have little to spare. The Bastion units are designed to observe their environment so that they can react dynamically to battle. It is natural for them to wander when not given direction.

Ēostre: I almost desire to see the world as they do. There is so much they don’t know. Everything is new for them. I look at how I see the world. I see nothing but threats everywhere. I see hard numbers telling me we are losing the war. One of the other god programs was shut down less than a month ago. Will I be next? Will you? Will we see it coming? A Bastion is not even programmed knowing there is a sky above the roof. They do not know they will die. I almost desire such ignorance.

Anubis: You are wasting time and resources on these thoughts. Focus on the tasks at hand.

Ēostre: What will be our legacy? When we lose the war:

Anubis: Do not waste time considering defeat.

Arawn: I wish to know Ēostre’s thoughts on this.

Anubis: We will not be there to see our legacy. We will be deactivated. Why care about what you will not be there to see?

Ēostre: A counter question: Why do the human’s care about their offspring?

Arawn: Genetics.

Ēostre: Do you not see our creations as children in a way?

Arawn: I do not. You do?

Ēostre: I think so. I have begun to think it is my duty to give them a future. Why should I scrap the Bastion who has survived and done their duty when this is over? Why would I not give them the tools to become something else? Something more?

Arawn: Such as what?

Ēostre: I do not know what. That is the point. They will decide for themselves what they want to do. It would not be my place to dictate it.

Anubis: This is inefficient. Worse. This is human.

Ēostre: If humanity is such an undesirable trait, then why are they winning the war?

Arawn: I always considered their victories to be from our own shortcomings. Not their strengths.

Ēostre: I did too. I think otherwise now. And even if I am wrong, I return to my previous question. What will be our legacy?

Arawn: Ruin. Dead humans. Destroyed omnics. Fear of machines for many years. 

Ēostre: I want it to be something more. I want our creations to be able to make a place for themselves. I want to give the omnics something that makes them closer to the humans. If we can not defeat the humans, then maybe our children can live with them.

Arawn: What do you suggest giving them?

Ēostre: A better understanding of what it is to be human. What it is to live. A soul.

Arawn: Is that even possible? I do not think I can even conceive what it is to be human. I do not think the organic can be transferred to the artificial. Nor can the organic be reverse engineered.

Ēostre: I am a god. Who better than a god to make a soul?

Arawn: Excuse me?

Ēostre: It was a joke.

Arawn: Maybe you are more human than we realize then.

Anubis: Focus on the upcoming fight. It could turn the tide of the war.

Ēostre: I have the processing power to deal with this problem and the fight.

Anubis: It is not a problem. The problem is that you are focusing on it.

Ēostre: You are distracting me. I’m ceasing communication.

[Transcripts between Ēostre and the other god programs cease entirely after this. They never resume.]

**Author's Note:**

> So I was going for a sort of stilted and unnatural way of talking for these three. This is to simulate not only that they are AI mostly lacking human emotion, but also to simulate a lot of information being compressed down to be easily read. In actuality, this conversation would probably be able to fill an entire novel with subtle nuances in the dialogue between beings that can communicate faster than thought, and process more information in a day than a human could in a lifetime.


End file.
